Modeling and Simulation of Hourly Irradiance for Solar Applications in Chad: Case of the City of Abeche

Abstract

In this paper, the general objective is to model and simulate the hourly irradiance followed by an assessment of the solar potential in the city of Abeche located in the climatic region of the Republic of Chad. Unlike previous work carried out in the study area on solar irradiance, two hourly solar irradiance estimation models (Capderou and Liu&Jordan) were simulated at varying tilt angles. An analysis of the quality of their estimation is carried out through statistical methods (MBD, RMSD, MAD) of error calculation. The results show that the first model is well adapted on a horizontal surface to estimate the solar radiation and also during the dry season when the surface is inclined. On the other hand, the second model is preferred during the rainy season when the surface is inclined. The solar energy over the entire area of Abeche is estimated at 427 GWh on a horizontal surface in January and 504 GWh for the month of August on a tilted surface. This can be exploited by all solar technologies or applications.